Whiskey Project No. 2

An exclusive behind-the-scenes barrel aging experience. You can be a part of it -and other VIP benefits! Availability is limited.

Limited Membership | Unique Experience | Exclusive Taste

There will never be another batch quite like it

WHAT IS WHISKEY PROJECT NO 2

Whiskey Project No. 2 is an opportunity for those interested in small-batch, craft distilling to get a behind-the-scenes view of the barrel aging experience and receive VIP benefits including up to five years of perks. Member benefits include bottles of exclusive cask strength whiskey, private workshops and tastings with Blackwater Distilling’s head distiller, first access to our limited-release products and other VIP offers. Workshops begin with a kick-off event at or around six months in the barrel.

Separately, members will have the option to pre-purchase:

Two bottles at cask strength after four years

Two bottles at cask strength after five years

Members will receive

Two cask strength bottles of the initial blend of young rye and corn or bourbon whiskey

Two cask strength bottles after one year from the barrel of their choice

Two cask strength bottles after two years from the chosen barrel

Two cask strength bottles after three years from the chosen barrel

How to participate

The cost of the workshop series and eight, cask strength bottles is $540. The cost of the pair of four-year, cask strength bottles is $120, and the pair of five-year, cask strength bottles $140. Simply select your preferred option from the PayPal menu below. Once we receive your payment, we'll send a confirmation email with a link to an additional contact information form where you can let us know any additional email addresses you'd like to receive information about the project.

Purchase your exclusive limited barrel aging whiskey

Whiskey Project No. 2

Workshops for you

In addition to the bottles, we will offer a behind-the-scenes educational workshop experience about barrel aging and American whiskey. The workshops will include:

Kickoff workshop (at or around six months in the barrel): members will gather for a recap of the project with Head Distiller Andy Keller and a discussion of the various changes that occur during the process of barrel aging. Members will pick up their first set of bottles, taste the initial blend of whiskies that went into the barrels, and taste directly out of the various barrels. After the tasting, each member will select a barrel from which his or her future bottles will be drawn.

At the year-and-a-half mark (or thereabouts): members will pick up their bottles from the one year mark, taste directly from the various barrels, and compare whiskey at the eighteen month mark to younger versions of the same whiskey.

At the two-and-a-half-year mark (or thereabouts): members will pick up their bottles from the one year mark, taste directly from the various barrels, and compare whiskey at the eighteen month mark to younger versions of the same whiskey.

Bottling and labeling (three-year mark): workshop members will have the opportunity to fill their three-year bottles and will have to option to have their bottles signed by the Blackwater Distilling team.

Membership includes workshop spots for the member and a guest!

The process

Blackwater Distilling will source and blend together two whiskies: a rye whiskey and a corn or bourbon whiskey, both at least three years old (ages will depend on availability, and we will acquire the tastiest we can find). The blend, as with Whiskey Project No. 1, will be made in proportions that equate to our understanding of an old Maryland Rye style whiskey (a higher proportion of rye than the Kentucky style and a lower proportion than the Pennsylvania style of 90-100% rye). Once blended, we’ll fill a series of barrels that have been used previously to age other spirits. Depending on availability, those could include:

The group pre-purchasing bottles from this “optional” category will vote to select a single barrel for those bottles to come from after tasting through all the choices in a distillery workshop.

Additional Exclusive benefits

Members of our behind-the-scenes workshops and projects (such as Whiskey Project No. 1 and Seed the Solera) will also get first access to our limited-release release products, such as single-barrel offerings, the ability to purchase certain releases at cask strength rather than bottled strength, and other VIP benefits!

Purchase your Exclusive limited barrel aging whiskey

Whiskey Project No. 2

Background

To be called “bourbon whiskey” or “rye whiskey” or “malt whiskey” or even “wheat whiskey,” American whiskey by law has to go into new, charred oak barrels among a slew of other regulations meant to keep just anyone from slapping “bourbon” on a whiskey label and tarnishing the name of America’s spirit. These days, "cask finishes" are becoming popular. Usually, bourbon, rye, or scotch whiskey is stored in a used port or used sherry barrel for an additional three to six months to pull flavor out of the wood.

But spirits around the world are aged in all sorts of barrels, and few others spirits are aged exclusively in new barrels. So what does American whiskey taste like when it is aged in other kinds of barrels? What does a "cask finish" taste like as the various flavors combine and continue to age together?

A note on naming

United States law is quite specific restrictive on the naming of whiskies and unlike the laws of some other countries, does not allow for the separate distillation of spirits to be combined before barrel aging. Because the whiskey Blackwater Distilling will eventually be bottling will be a combination of a rye whiskey and a corn whiskey made to mimic a certain mash bill rather than a single whiskey distilled from that mash bill, American whiskey law will not allow us to label the whiskey as “rye whiskey.” Most likely, it will have to be labeled as “blended whiskey.”

The law also specifies that only time spent in a new, charred, white oak barrel counts toward age statements in most categories of whiskey, and that in a blend, the youngest whiskey determines the allowable age statement. So after two years of additional aging, the whiskey will only be considered to be two years old, despite containing whiskey that has aged for longer.